司法部长帕姆·邦迪星期三宣誓就任美国最高执法官员后的头几个小时里，她就发布了一项指令，成立了一个“武器化工作组”，她说，该工作组的任务将是审查美国政府的“政治化”行动。进行调查的官员唐纳德·特朗普总统在州和联邦两级。
邦迪的备忘录要求该小组审查特朗普提起的诉讼特别顾问杰克·史密斯以及纽约州总检察长莱蒂夏·詹姆斯(Letitia James)在纽约州对川普提起的民事欺诈案。
根据备忘录，这项审查将由司法部长办公室领导，由副总检察长和该部门的其他部门提供支持，并将“向白宫提供关于审查过程的季度报告。”
该命令还指示工作组审查DOJ在调查2011年12月21日的恐怖主义事件中任何“滥用检察权”的情况1月6日袭击关于美国国会大厦，以及关于美国联邦调查局是否在政治上以天主教徒为目标的报道，以及DOJ对被指控阻碍获得生殖健康诊所服务的反堕胎抗议者的起诉。
该指令初步表明，邦迪担任司法部长期间将如何寻求推动特朗普总统的政治目标，即把司法系统框定为针对他的“武器化”，同时推进他的竞选承诺，即调查那些起诉他的人，罪名包括犯罪封口费付款阻碍和错误处理机密文件，以及他努力推翻他在2020年选举中的失败。
邦迪去年在接受福克斯新闻频道采访时发誓要起诉DOJ的“坏”检察官，并调查那些“隐藏在所谓的“深层国家”的阴影中的人
在她身上确认听证会邦迪随后向立法者保证，她只会根据正确的预测而不是基于政治提起诉讼。
前司法部长梅里克·加兰(Merrick Garland)一再支持他的司法部和史密斯的工作，他说，史密斯在做出起诉特朗普的决定时遵循了事实和法律。华盛顿特区的一名联邦法官拒绝驳回他的联邦选举颠覆案基于特朗普律师的论点，他是报复性起诉的受害者。
邦迪发布的另一项指令命令DOJ员工坚持“积极倡导”特朗普政府的政策。
“司法部律师在这些责任方面的自由裁量权不包括用他们的个人政治观点或判断取代选举中占上风的观点或判断的自由，”备忘录说。
备忘录指出，当DOJ的律师通过签署辩护状“拒绝忠实履行他们的职责”时，“这破坏了宪法秩序，剥夺了总统律师的利益。”这种非同寻常的语言将职业DOJ律师描述为直接为总统服务的“律师”，反映了特朗普任命的国务院领导层的观点，其中许多人代表特朗普个人担任他的辩护律师。
备忘录说，那些由于与司法部的意识形态分歧而拒绝签署法律摘要的人可能会受到纪律处分，甚至被解雇。
特朗普被判入狱无条件放电-没有监禁，罚款或缓刑-在纽约陪审团发现他有罪后，去年在他的刑事封口费案件。他是罚款3.548亿美元加上大约1亿美元的利息，此前纽约法官在2023年裁定，他一再夸大自己的净资产，以获得更好的贷款条件。
特朗普的联邦机密文件案和他1月6日的案子都放弃了特朗普在11月再次当选后，司法部的一项长期政策禁止起诉在任总统。
特朗普否认有不当行为，并在所有案件中辩称无罪。
Bondi, as new AG, launches 'Weaponization Working Group' to review officials who investigated Trump
In her first hours after being sworn in Wednesday as nation's top law enforcement official, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a directive Wednesday establishing a "Weaponization Working Group" that she says will be tasked with reviewing "politicized" actions ofofficials who investigatedPresident Donald Trump at both the state and federal levels.
Bondi's memo mandates that the group reviews the prosecutions of Trump brought byspecial counsel Jack Smithand Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as well as the civil fraud case brought against Trump in New York by the state's attorney general Letitia James.
The review, according to the memo, will be led by the Office of the Attorney General and supported by the Deputy Attorney General and other divisions of the department, and will "provide quarterly reports to the White House regarding the process of the review."
The order further directs the working group to review any instances of "prosecutorial abuse" regarding the DOJ's investigation into theJan. 6 assaulton the U.S. Capitol, as well as reports regarding whether the FBI politically targeted Catholics, and the DOJ's prosecutions of anti-abortion protesters accused of impeding access to reproductive health clinics.
The directive is an early indication of how Bondi's tenure as attorney general will seek to boost President Trump's political goals of framing the justice system as "weaponized" against him, while furthering his campaign pledge to investigate those who prosecuted him for offenses ranging fromcriminal hush money paymentsto obstruction and mishandling of classified documents, as well as his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Bondi, in an interview with Fox News last year, vowed to prosecute "bad" prosecutors at the DOJ and to investigate those "hiding in the shadows" of the so-called "deep state."
In herconfirmation hearing, Bondi subsequently assured lawmakers that she would only bring prosecutions based on proper predication and not based on politics.
Former Attorney General Merrick Garland has repeatedly stood by the work of his Justice Department and Smith, who he said followed the facts and the law in reaching the determination to prosecute Trump. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., previouslydeclined to dismisshis federal election subversion case based on the arguments from Trump's lawyers he was a victim of vindictive prosecution.
A separate directive issued by Bondi orders DOJ employees to adhere to "zealous advocacy" of the Trump administration's policies.
"The discretion afforded Justice Department attorneys with respect to those responsibilities does not include latitude to substitute their personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election," the memo says.
The memo notes that when DOJ attorneys "refuse to faithfully carry out their role" by signing briefs, "it undermines the constitutional order and deprives the President of the benefit of his lawyers." The extraordinary language, describing career DOJ attorneys as "lawyers" directly for the president is reflective of the views of the incoming Trump-appointed leadership at the department, many of whom represented Trump personally as his defense attorneys.
The memo says those who resist signing on to legal briefs due to ideological differences with the department could be subject to discipline and even termination.
Trump was sentenced to anunconditional discharge-- without prison, fines or probation -- after a New York jury found him guilty last year in his criminal hush money case. He wasfined $354.8 millionplus approximately $100 million in interest after a New York judge ruled in 2023 that he had repeatedly inflated his net worth to secure better loan terms.
Trump's federal classified documents case and his Jan. 6 case wereboth droppedfollowing Trump's reelection in November due to a longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in all cases.
